Last week Michael rounded up some clothes to donate to goodwill, and I just had to sneak a couple out of the bag that I thought would make some cute summer dresses for Isabel. I ended up keeping three shirts all with horizontal stripes.

If you have ever tried to make a dress from horizontally striped fabric the stripes have this pesky little way of staying straight even when your dress decides to curve 😉 So after brainstorming with my mom she thought of the idea of having the seam in the front instead to give it a bit of a chevron look. I ended up liking that even more than the straight stripes! So after making one I put together a tutorial for dress two and three. They are each basically the same dress with different sleeves and necklines and I will show how I did each one. It is a simple way to make multiple dresses that each have a different look without much extra work. If you are looking to make some clothes for your little girl this summer these would be a great place to start. Just raid Dad’s closet or you local good will, put that little one down for a nap and get to work!

I will start with the short sleeved, v-neck dress.

Supplies:
Men’s horizontally striped t-shirt (mine was a size medium and was just enough to make a size 3T dress)
some extra knit or ribbed knit fabric in a coordinating color (I think the smallest amount our fabric store will cut is 1/8 of a yard. That would be more than enough)
scissors
sewing machine
paper
pen
dress or longer shirt that fits well
sewing machine and thread
To trace your pattern you can tape together printing paper, use butcher paper, parchment paper, or tissue paper.
Arrange your pattern paper and dress as shown above.
Line the side seam of the dress up along the fold of your pattern paper. Then move it back about 1/4 inch for a seam allowance because you are going to have a seam down the front of your dress.
If your dress is a good length you can add about an inch at the bottom for your hem. If it is too long trace your line higher. If you want your dress longer then add some space at the bottom accordingly. Just be sure to follow the rounded curve of the dress you are tracing.
For my dresses I wanted just a little bit more flare than the dress I was tracing so I drew a line about a 1/4″ away from the neckline and then gradually brought it about 2″ wider at the bottom.
For my sleeve I already had one cut from a hand me down shirt that had some stains on it. If you do not have something available to cut up then simply fold your a piece of paper in half and line the fold up with the top of the sleeve, trace around it leaving 1/4″ for a seam allowance. On my paper I traced a 3/4 length sleeve and then drew a line in shorter for doing a short sleeve shirt as well. Here is what my pattern looks like when unfolded.
Just for some perspective the little circle at the top will end up being your arm hole, so this is basically a side shot of the dress laid flat.
Next dismantle the fabric from the shirts you are re-purposing by cutting down every seam so that they all lay flat. One of the shirts had an oil stain on the sleeve (hence the sleeveless dress) so be sure to check for things like that so you can place your pattern in a good spot and avoid those areas.
If I wasn’t working with stripes I would just fold my fabric in half and cut my pieces like this.
However I wanted to make sure that the stripes lined up perfectly so I opened the pattern up, pinned it and cut.
When cutting my second piece I placed my first on top of the second to make sure that the stripes would line up perfectly.
At this point if you are making a dress with sleeves you need to cut a straight line down the center (right along the fold in your pattern) I folded mine in half and then cut carefully down the middle.
One great thing about using an already made shirt is that you can use the existing hem around the sleeves. Simply line the bottom of your pattern up with the bottom of the sleeve hem. I then folded mine in half, pinned and cut along my pattern. Notice here that my sleeve pattern is folded under to the short sleeve line that I traced in.
For the sleeves on this dress I wanted to add some ruching (gathering) at the top of the sleeve. This is actually a very simple thing to do that adds a lot to a garment and makes it look more feminine. To do this I cut my sleeve from the pattern but when I got to the end I angled my cut so that the bottom of my sleeve lined up with the pattern but the top went out about 1 1/2″. The more of an angle you do the more you will need to gather.
You should end up with 6 pieces all together counting the sleeves that look like this. (for a short sleeve dress)
At this point my front pieces and back pieces are the exact same. Take two pieces match the stripes up and lay them on top of one another with the designed side of the fabric facing one another. . Double check that your stripes match up, pin and sew down what will be the front (or back) of the dress (not the side with the arm holes.
When you open it back up it should look like this.
Do the same with your other two pieces. At this point I laid both of my pieces open and check if one matched up just a little bit better that the other and made that my front piece by trimming the neck line down just a little bit more than my back piece as shown below. Taking out a skinny “V” I forgot to take a second picture but I did end up trimming just a tiny bit more than that after looking at it again. If you skip this step the dress will sit too high on your daughters neck in the front and fit a little awkwardly.
Now BEFORE you sew down the sides of the dress with the arm holes. Lay your front and back piece on top of one another again with the right sides of the fabric facing one another. Pin the tops of the fabric that would be what is going to sit on top of the shoulders like a tank top.
Sew across the top of both shoulders leaving a 1/4″ seam allowance.
This dress as I said earlier has ruched sleeves. To do this change your stitch width to the widest setting. now make sure you have about 3 inches of thread loose and sew just along the top of your sleeve WITHOUT back stitching. Leave another 3 inches of thread once you stop.
Now give a little tug on one of your threads while pushing the fabric in the opposite direction. Make sure not to pull your thread so hard that you pull it out completely. I like to tie a loose knot on one end to keep one side put. Once I get it gathered I always put another loose knot at the other end to keep everything in place. It should look like this when you are done.
Now here is a wonderful little trick I learned from Dana over at Made. And if you have not looked at her site you MUST go visit! As soon as you finish my tutorial of course 😉
Lay your garment out flat wrong side of the fabric facing up. Lay your sleeves along each arm hole also wrong side of the fabric facing up.
Now in the past I have just started pinning my sleeves on from one end to the other but if the size is not just right you can end up with your gather off center. Gathering is not quite as cute when it is almost in your armpit instead of on your shoulder! So I like to fold my sleeve in half and pin from the center out. Another way is to pin each end and work alternating back to the center so that you can gather any extra fabric at the top with the ruching. Once pinned simply sew both of the arms on leaving about a 1/4″ seam allowance as you go. After it is sewn if you laid it out flat face up it should look like this. See what a nice touch the gathering adds? If you gathered more you will have a bigger “pouf” if you did not gather at all then it would lay flat.
OK, I promise we are getting very close to being done!
Fold your dress back on top of itself, match up your side stripes and the hem of your sleeves, pin and sew with a 1/4″ seam allowance. Now it really looks like a little dress! All we have left is the neck line and hem.
For my neck line I had some ribbed white knit fabric laying around so I used that. Cut a piece the same length as your neck line plus about 3-4 inches, and about 3″ wide.
At this time I used my little scissors and cut the thread at the front seam of the dress where my “V” neck will meet. I opened it up about 2 inches.
I am a very visual person, so if these directions do not make perfect sense try looking at the photos and if you cannot figure it out just ask!
Now turn your dress inside out and pin the neck piece along the inside of your neck line. If your neck piece has a pattern on the fabric make sure the patterned side is facing down against the inside of the dress. Leave about two inches of extra fabric from the neck binding hanging loose. Sew all the way around the neck and it should look like this when turned back right side out. Fold that piece down once, lay it against the right side of the fabric, pin and sew.
Sew all the way around and it should now look like this.
Turn your dress inside out again and match up the ends of your neck binding. Match up with the existing seam and sew it shut again. Be sure to back stitch to keep it from coming undone.
Now open those two ends up and lay them flat against the dress. They should naturally angle downward. Pin them in place from the front and sew a little V along the seam that is already there so it will blend right in.
Then trim the extra fabric away. and your neck line is complete!
Last step!! Hem the bottom of your dress. I folded mine up about 1/4″ and then did that again, pinned and hemmed.
You are done! If you are like me and sew while your little ones are sleeping you now get to wait “patiently” until she wakes up to have her try it on.
Thanks for taking the time to read my tutorial. I hope it was helpful and that I explained everything clearly. Please let me know if you have any questions and as always I would love to see pictures of your finished project if you give it a try!
Stay tuned for some variations to the dress hopefully posted within the next week… And a big thanks to Emmalyn and Isabel for helping model 🙂